THE mighty Essequibo is today to bid goodbye to the first ever international passenger vessel to have graced its waters, but it will definitely not see the end of small cruise ships like the `Clipper Adventurer'.

Zegrahm Eco Expeditions of Seattle, Washington, U.S., which chartered the `Clipper Adventurer' to travel through the Essequibo as part of a cruise in the jungle rivers of South America, has already decided that it will bring another 100 or so tourists to Guyana in 2004.

The cruise ship hit a sandbank just off Stampa Island in the river, but the high tide and tugs from the Transport and Harbours Department had it floating free again yesterday afternoon.

The planned activities for the group were, however, not affected in any way by the mishap, according to Ms. Nicole Correia of Evergreen Adventures, which worked with Zegrahm to bring the `Clipper Adventurer' and its tourists to Guyana.

One of the owners of Zegrahm, Mr. Mike Messick, who is expedition team leader, said they did not anticipate the problem with the sandbank and would obviously not like to encounter it again. He said they would have to work out a solution for this.

"We have already decided on 2004. We have plans to mount a similar trip...it is a destination that we would be very excited to bring another one hundred people to, because I'm quite sure this will be a highlight for another hundred people when we come back," Messick said.

He was speaking at the Baganara Island Resort from where the tourists boarded small planes to fly to the Kaieteur Falls. The Kaieteur was a highlight of the tourists' three-day stopover here.

"It's absolutely sensational and a place that I think will be on the world market one day. Because, perhaps it's not the highest falls, or perhaps it's not the biggest falls, but it is certainly the most spectacular falls", Messick said of Kaieteur.

"I congratulate you for having such an incredible scenic world wonder in your country", he added.

Ms. Ann Royer, a regular on cruises like the current trip, said Guyana is definitely a place she will come back to.

"One of the reasons we decided on this trip was to get a taste of every little place, as it allows you to choose where to come back to. This is definitely a place we'll come back to", she said.

The two-week trip across South America has so far taken the tourists through the Amazon River in Brazil, to French Guiana and to Suriname.

"One of the things that impressed me the most was just the flight over to the falls. You have so much uninterrupted forest. I have never flown over forests like that; it was just absolutely amazing," Royer said of her experience.

"The falls was absolutely beautiful. It was stunning. At times as we were watching it, the mist was so heavy that you couldn't even see the falls. And then, the wind would shift and you'd have these beautiful colours floating down the falls from gold to white. It was just beautiful", she said.

Royer was also excited at seeing the beautiful Cock-of-the-Rock bird and "the little golden frogs" at the Kaieteur National Park.

"And we had two of the green and red macaws fly over the falls. You couldn't have planned it better", she laughed.

"I would definitely like to come and do some more in your park and in the interior and go to some of the other places. I had no idea that there was so much beauty here. And now that we've been here once, I'm sure my husband and I will be back," she told reporters.

Mr. Buz Nason was another very pleased tourist who shared his experience with reporters.

"One of the things I congratulate you about is the infrastructure to put anybody into the wonderful situation to see so many things. That alone is wonderful, but to do it for a hundred people is miraculous", he said.

"The nature up there is spectacular. I have never been in a jungle environment with so many indigenous flowers of different shapes, sizes and colours in such a small area," he said of his trip to the Kaieteur National Park. Seeing the golden frogs was a highlight of the trip for Buz.

After their trip to Kaieteur Falls, the tourists returned to Baganara, relaxed and moved on to hiking through the forest. They were also scheduled to visit Bartica yesterday.

Before the `Clipper Adventurer' sails off to Venezuela today, the tourists will visit the village of Saxacalli.

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Mr. Manzoor Nadir; Director of Tourism, Ms. Tessa Fraser; Public Service Minister and the Government's parliamentary representative for the region, Dr. Jennifer Westford, and Region Seven Chairman, Mr. Gordon Bradford went aboard the vessel to welcome the captain, crew and passengers to Guyana.

"We see that there is an opportunity for this kind of activity to take place in Guyana," Fraser told the Captain and said it was a "great pleasure" to welcome the cruise ship to Guyana.

"I hope I can come back any time to your river", Captain Phillip Diekmann said.

Hotel Manager aboard the `Clipper Adventurer', Mr. Louis Rappaport said he appreciated the warm welcome received in Guyana.

"In this day and age and the situation in the world, warm welcomes are very important and are what make trips memorable. And so this will be a memorable trip for us as crew members and for the passengers and we all do look forward to coming back", he said.

"We're really pleased that despite the incident the ship had with the sand bank, we were able to change up our timings and have everything go off on schedule. We prayed and we got our weather and the Kaieteur flights got off without a hitch, so we're really excited", Correia told the Chronicle at Baganara.

"Evergreen Adventures has been in discussion with Zegrahm Expeditions for the past two years in putting the plan together to have the `Clipper Adventurer' sail through Guyana and more recently got the Government involved in terms of helping with some of the logistics.

"It's been good", Correia said about how things have worked out.